Court deputy fatally shoots knife-wielding man

The Fresno Bee

MERCED, CA — The man shot dead at the Merced County Superior Courthouse on Monday afternoon was a diagnosed schizophrenic with a history of run-ins with the law.

Robert Gerald Eaton, 40, of Atwater was shot by a sheriff’s deputy after he walked into a packed courtroom about 2:45 p.m. carrying two large kitchen knives. Eaton is the same man who crashed his car into the courthouse building in April 2007. He told authorities then that he was angry that he had been refused treatment at a local mental health facility.